


A Purrfect Home

by mseg_21



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Married Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22137283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mseg_21/pseuds/mseg_21
Summary: Richie wanted nothing more than to step up behind Eddie, wrap his arms around his waist and bury his face in his neck. But before he got the chance to move, his husband slowly turned around."I don't want to wake her up." He said, voice barely above a murmur. "At least, I think it's a her."Richie's eyebrows creased in confusion, until he noticed Eddie's hands where they were raised to chest level and, cradled in them barely bigger than his palm, was a white ball of fur. As Eddie rubbed one thumb along its haunches, the ball stirred slightly, enough for Richie to realize it was a kitten, wrapped up in something that looked suspiciously like another one of his shirts."Holy shit."The kitten squeaked when it heard Richie's voice, before falling quiet again, tiny ribs rising and falling.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak & Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 14
Kudos: 198





	A Purrfect Home

When Richie arrived home he was happy to see that Eddie was already there, his car parked in their driveway. He had gone the entire day without talking to his husband, caught up in meetings with his agent and producers and now he just wanted to tell him how well everything went. They all loved Richie’s new material and there had been talk of a new tour, maybe even a Netflix special. Richie still couldn't believe it, even if Eddie had been hyping up his latest work every time he practiced in front of him, his eyes shining with tears with how hard Richie made him laugh. 

Richie couldn't wait to see his face when he gave him the news. 

(If he was being honest, he owed everything to Eddie- sure, Richie was the one who wrote the jokes, but he would only use those that got a reaction from Eddie. Those that had him laughing so hard his laugh turned silent, those that made him bite his lip to try and stop a smile from breaking across his face or those that made him let out adorable giggly snorts while shaking his head with affection.)

He got out of his car, heading up the walkway. 

"Eds?" He called, kicking off his shoes just inside the front door. "Are you home?"

"In the kitchen." 

Richie shrugged off his jacket, before heading to the kitchen. When he stepped inside, Eddie was standing in front of the sink, facing the window. Even with his back to Richie, his husband was a sight to behold and Richie allowed himself to watch him for a bit. His hair was mussed up, his work clothes had been replaced by one of Richie's old band shirts and soft flannel pajama pants. His feet were bare and the sunlight coming through the curtains was dappling the sides of his neck in a soft yellow glow.

Richie wanted nothing more than to step up behind Eddie, wrap his arms around his waist and bury his face in his neck. But before he got the chance to move, his husband slowly turned around. 

"I don't want to wake her up." He said, voice barely above a murmur. "At least, I think it's a her." 

Richie's eyebrows creased in confusion, until he noticed Eddie's hands where they were raised to chest level and, cradled in them barely bigger than his palm, was a white ball of fur. As Eddie rubbed one thumb along its haunches, the ball stirred slightly, enough for Richie to realize it was a kitten, wrapped up in something that looked suspiciously like another one of his shirts.

"Holy shit."

The kitten squeaked when it heard Richie's voice, before falling quiet again, tiny ribs rising and falling.

It was hopelessly small, so fragile that just looking at it made Richie wince. Based on how he was holding it, like it could break any minute, Eddie felt the same. He was also looking at it with big, brown adoring eyes and, having been on the receiving end of that look for years, Richie could tell Eddie was already in love with it. 

"Where did it come from?" He asked, voice dropping in volume this time. 

He stepped closer, dipping his head slightly so he could peer closer at the tiny kitten. There were a few spots of black mixed into the thin fur covering her ears and paws and her nose was pink, like Eddie's during a cold winter. Her eyes were closed and when Eddie stroked her haunches again, she yawned and squeaked simultaneously. Richie felt his insides melt, the sight too adorable to handle. 

"Someone left her in the dumpster behind the office." Eddie murmured, an angry crease between his eyebrows. "I heard her when I was walking to the car. I looked for others, but I think she was the only one." 

Color had risen to his cheeks, and Richie wondered how many times Eddie had thought about killing (or at least severely harming) the person who left the kitten in the trash since he found her. Frankly, Richie kind of wanted to do the same thing and he had never been a cat person, never been a pet person of any kind.

And if he was being honest, he was sure Eddie wasn't either. When they were kids, he would always go on rants about pet allergies and fur shedding and animal-borne diseases. And yeah, he had come a long way from that, but never in their twenty years of marriage (and even more years of knowing each other) Eddie had mentioned he wanted a pet. 

Still, Richie couldn't imagine how much of a piece of shit someone would have to be to leave such a tiny, vulnerable creature to die, whether they liked animals or not. 

"Is she okay?" Richie asked, slowly reaching out and laying the pad of his index finger between the kitten's ears. Her fur was a little gritty and when he leaned closer, he could smell something rank, the smell of garbage left in the sun. 

He was surprised that Eddie was holding her against his chest instead of throwing a fit, turning the house around for gloves and a mask and bathing himself in antibacterial gel. 

"She needs a bath." Eddie said, matter-of-factly. "But I was afraid to get her wet. I fed her a little bit earlier."

"With what?" He slid over far enough to reveal a small purple carton and a syringe sitting beside the sink.

"It's kitten replacement milk, apparently," Eddie answered with a slight frown. "From our next door neighbor. Her name is Jane, by the way."

"Jane?" Richie asked, pretty sure he never heard that name before. "Did she move in recently or something?"

Eddie snorted. "No, she's lived there since before we moved in." He said. "We're just terrible neighbors." 

Richie laughed, the loud sound making the kitten stir slightly. "We're the perfect neighbors." He said, gently scratching the kitten's head. He was pretty sure that there were shelters in town that would be willing to take her in and who would probably be more well equipped than them to take care of her. Hell, if they threw up an ad on Craigslist, they'd have someone stopping by at the end of the day looking to rehome her.

But that didn't sit right with him and not just because Eddie was so obviously in love with the thing already. 

How could they make sure that whoever took the kitten wouldn't hurt her again? If anyone was going to keep the kitten alive, it was going to be them.

But they would have to do it right.

"Alright." Richie said, giving the kitten one last scratch before he patted his pocket to make sure his wallet was still tucked in it. "What do we need?"

Eddie flashed him a big smile. 

* * *

Richie had never been in a pet store before.

The place echoed with barking and meowing, and the aisles seemed to stretch forever.

He glanced down at the list in his hand, written in Eddie's neat handwriting on the back of a receipt for last night's takeout. Kitten milk was written at the top, followed by kitten bottles, syringes, a heating pad and, at the very bottom,  _ the smallest cat sweater available _ .

Richie was pretty sure that a sock full of rice and a scrap of fabric would also work for the last two items, but if Eddie wanted a sweater for the kitten, then a sweater she will get. It was nothing new that Richie was not good at saying no to Eddie. 

After wandering up and down the aisles for a few minutes, he managed to find most of the supplies. The selection of cat clothes was weirdly large and he grabbed the first thing he saw, a woolen plaid sweater that was half the size of one of his socks. The food aisle was just around the corner and he stopped there, balancing the supplies in his arms.

It was easy enough to find the kitten milk cartons, but he had no idea how many they would need. From his (admittedly limited) experience, he was pretty sure that most kittens did nothing but sleep and drink. For all he knew, the kitten could drink a carton dry in only a few hours.

He shifted everything over to one hand long enough to grab his phone from his pocket and call Eddie, who answered on the first ring.

"Hey Rich, did you get everything?"

"Almost." He said. "How much of this kitten milk stuff do we need?"

For a few moments, he could only hear water running and the occasional tiny squeak while Eddie thought in silence. Finally, he said, "I'm not sure, just- get a lot."

Richie snorted. "Very specific, thank you Eds."

"How am I supposed to know? The only stray animal I've ever taken care of is you." He shot back, but Richie could hear the smile in his voice. 

"Aw Eds, you say the sweetest things." He said, glancing around and finding a stack of baskets sitting at the end of the aisle. "I’ll just take a shit ton, I guess. I should be home in a bit. Love you."

"Love you too." Eddie said and he heard a tiny meow before the line went dead. Richie couldn't help but smile while picking up the cartons. 

When he pulled into the driveway half an hour later, he stacked the rest of the supplies on top of the case of kitten milk, which contained no less than twenty-four individual cartons. He managed to keep the whole pile balanced up the driveway and into the living room. Eddie was sitting on the couch, television turned down low. The kitten was in an old box at his feet, slumbering on a pile of fabric. 

"Think this should be enough milk?" Richie asked, setting the whole pile on the floor.

Eddie looked up, wrinkles forming around his eyes as he smiled at him. "If we had a whole fucking litter instead of just one kitten, then yeah.” He said and Richie stuck his tongue out at him. 

He yanked the price tag off the sweater and handed it to him. Watching Eddie gently ease the half-asleep, squirming kitten into it was possibly the most adorable thing Richie had ever seen. After a few moments of struggle, the kitten was encased in the sweater, which was a size (or three) too big.

"We need the heating pad yet?" Richie asked. Eddie shook his head, so he left the rest of the supplies in the corner of the room and sunk down onto the couch next to Eddie, leaning forward to scratch the kitten's head. When he did, he noticed that she no longer smelled bad and she also looked cleaner than before, her fur slightly softer to the touch. "Did you give her a bath?" 

Eddie nodded, watching Richie pet the kitten with a soft smile. "She couldn’t wait until tomorrow.” He wrinkled his nose. “And I couldn’t either. I dried her off with a blow dryer, she was shivering like crazy." 

"I didn't know we had a blow dryer." 

"I had to ask Jane for one. We're definitely getting her a fruit basket or something."

Richie snorted, cooing at the kitten when she rolled onto her back and let him scratch her belly. 

"I was reading and we need to feed her every four hours." Eddie said, turning up the volume on the movie that was playing. "She'll need some more in an hour. I set some alarms on my phone."

"Well, good thing we've got a thousand channels to keep us amused." He said, dropping his hand to Eddie's shoulder. Eddie twisted his head and smiled at him again, squeezing Richie's knee. He didn't say I love you, but Richie heard it just the same.

"I'll go throw a pizza in." He said, finally peeling himself off the couch. "You're on TV duty."

* * *

The first alarm went off just as they were settling in with pizza and Netflix. They paused the movie and Eddie prepared the bottle while Richie supervised the kitten on the kitchen counter, making sure that she didn't fall off. 

Once the bottle was ready, the kitten took it eagerly. She drank two thirds of the milk before she spit the bottle out, liquid dribbling from the corners of her tiny mouth.

Eddie transferred her back to her box, where she promptly fell asleep again. Richie had to stop himself from reaching down to pet her, she was just so soft and made sounds that Richie didn't even know were possible. But he didn't want to wake her up, so he reached for Eddie’s hand instead, playing with his fingers while they watched a movie. 

* * *

The second alarm went off just before midnight.

They were on their second movie of the night and their dinner dishes had been cleared away. Eddie got to his feet, a little bleary eyed, and they repeated the ritual in the kitchen before settling back onto the couch.

Until the third alarm ripped Richie out of a deep sleep.

He fumbled for Eddie's, phone, which was sitting on the coffee table, and managed to thumb the alarm off. The Netflix menu was grayed out from so many hours of inactivity and the kitten was making a sound almost like a chirp as she slowly crawled around the box. Eddie was still completely passed out, snoring quietly, head draped on the armrest of the sofa.

Richie yawned, dropped a kiss to Eddie's warm forehead and leaned down to gently scoop the kitten out of the box.

He imitated Eddie's actions from earlier and the kitten once again took the bottle with no hesitation. As she drank, feet splayed out on a tea towel resting on the counter, Richie gently stroked her back with the hand not holding the bottle.

“You’re such a cutie. Just like Eds.” The kitten burbled around the bottle in response and Richie cracked a smile. “You like him? Eddie? I like him too, very much.” He mumbled, pushing the kitten’s sweater up and away from her tail. “And I like  _ you. _ ” He said, poking the kitten in the nose. Her face scrunched up, just like Eddie's did whenever Richie did it to him. 

He knew he was probably going to feel like shit when the alarm went off again in three hours and fifty minutes, but he was starting to think that the lack of sleep was going to be worth it.

* * *

A few days later, when Stan and Mike stopped by to meet the still nameless kitchen they walked in on Richie glaring at her, after he discovered she puked all over his favorite boots. And then tried to hide the evidence by eating them. 

She was giving Richie her most innocent smile and he was having trouble staying mad at her, especially since her big brown eyes reminded him so much of Eddie's. 

Stan burst out laughing and Mike suggested they named the kitten Boots- both for her love for Richie's boots and because the spots of black on her paws made it look like she was wearing tiny boots herself.

Eddie seemed to like the idea, but before agreeing with Mike he turned to Richie, expectant. They never really discussed keeping the kitten, they just continued to take care of her during the next days. Richie had assumed that they were keeping her, that she was stuck with them, but it seemed that Eddie still had doubts about whether Richie wanted her or not. 

Well, Richie didn't. 

He didn't doubt it for a second. He loved her and loved coddling her, he loved watching Eddie coddle her even more. 

And she was remarkably calm, but also demanding when it came to cuddles, wriggling her way into their laps whenever she could, sleeping curled up at their feet or in their laundry basket. While she was happy to get attention from either of them, she definitely leaned towards Eddie, which Richie really couldn't fault her for.

He was pretty sure that if someone rescued him from a dumpster, he would be grateful for the rest of his life. 

"I like it.” Richie finally said and Eddie beamed at him. “Our little own Puss in Boots." 

Eddie picked her up in his arms. His boots long forgotten, Richie stared at them, realizing that it had only taken a few days, maybe even a few hours, for Richie to decide that even if she shed all over everything, even if she occasionally scratched and bit on the rug or if she ruined Richie's boots, she was the most amazing creature in the world.

(After Eddie of course, but, well, that went without saying.)

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment or come talk to me on tumblr  
> [jem-castairs-is-perfection](http://jem-carstairs-is-perfection.tumblr.com/)


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